Even under his fearsome gaze, the knights merely looked annoyed, as if they were looking at a gnat.
“Oh, were you listening? I was just talking to myself. For a big guy, your ears are damn sharp. Come on, stop glaring. I’m so scared I can’t even talk to myself.”
The man spoke while pretending to pick his ear with his little finger, then blew lightly on the tip of that finger.
He was Juan, the commander of the House of Count Romanov’s knight order.
His face looked worn with years, and whenever he spoke, the thick flesh of his cheeks quivered.
Looking at him, Lawrence thought he resembled a greedy owner of a neighborhood restaurant more than a knight.
And judging from his bulging belly, it seemed clear he had barely exercised lately.
“Commander Juan. Are you not going too far with your words? How can you say such things in front of the Young Master?”
Martin objected once more, but Juan’s annoyed expression remained the same.
Rather, as if displeased that Martin had talked back to him, he tilted his chin crookedly and made a sour face.
“Hey! You bastard, I said I was talking to myself. To myself.”
Juan shouted sharply.
As though he were yelling because he felt so wronged that he could no longer hold it in.
At that sight, the surrounding knights glanced at Martin and Lawrence and snickered.
Far from hiding their mockery, some of them even openly laughed at Lawrence.
Lawrence was shocked by the sight of these knights.
‘How can they show this kind of attitude to me, the son of their lord?’
Facing the true state of the knight order, Lawrence could not hide his face hardening.
In the rapidly chilling atmosphere, Martin swallowed his anger and clenched his fists tightly.
He barely calmed himself by catching his trembling right hand, which was moving toward his sword hilt, with his left.
If he acted on what he felt, he would draw his sword and charge at them immediately, but if he did that, even Lawrence might be put in danger, so he forced himself to endure.
“No, I’m the knight commander, so who does he think he is, making me watch myself when I’m talking to myself?”
Although he spoke that way, Juan looked at Martin and judged that something might happen if he went any further, so he took one step back for now.
But this was not the end.
As soon as Juan took a step back, the other knights came forward as if they had been waiting and tossed out a remark each.
“Is that really something to make such a fuss over?”
“He always thinks he’s the only great one. Fine, you do everything yourself. You’re going to become very important later.”
The knights openly took Juan’s side and instead mocked Martin as if he were an opportunist.
Lawrence was confused by this situation.
He had known knights as beings who pledged loyalty to their lord and valued honor above all else…….
But the scene unfolding before his eyes was completely different from the common sense he knew.
It was enough to make him wonder whether he had been mistaken instead.
This was proof that the knight order’s loyalty was directed not toward Jason, his father and the lord of this territory, but toward Juan.
“Our wages haven’t come in for three months, and now the Young Master is going to take over even this tiny training ground we barely have. Honestly, it’s so miserable I don’t know how anyone can call himself a knight…….”
O’Neill, the vice commander, muttered as if talking to himself.
But for talking to himself, his voice was far too loud, so clear that it reached even Lawrence’s ears, though Lawrence was an ordinary person who had not awakened mana.
“Whew~ We powerless people should step aside. Commander, why don’t we go have a drink?”
O’Neill let out a large sigh as if he felt wronged, then turned to Juan and spoke.
“Yes, let’s do that. Today, I think I’ll forget training or whatever and just have a drink too.”
Thus, leaving Lawrence and Martin behind, they abruptly walked out of the training ground.
Left in the training ground, Lawrence could not understand the situation at all, and he only blinked with his mouth hanging open.
Even if a stranger on the street struck him hard in the back of the head, he would not feel this absurd.
Lawrence was dumbfounded by their attitude.
Those things were knights…….
He did not think even neighborhood thugs would act like that.
“I apologize, Young Master. Because of my failure, I have shown you something disgraceful.”
Martin’s face flushed red with shame, and he bowed his head deeply.
As a member of the knight order himself, he could not raise his face after seeing Juan and the other knights act that way.
“More importantly, why are they going that far? I understand that they’re dissatisfied because they haven’t been paid. But even so, isn’t that far too much for knights?”
“Well, that is…….”
Martin avoided Lawrence’s gaze, as if it was difficult to say.
But burdened by Lawrence’s gaze, which continued to stare as if he absolutely needed to hear the answer, Martin had no choice but to open his mouth.
“In truth, the atmosphere was never good to begin with, but it was not this bad.”
At Martin’s words, Lawrence’s face hardened at once.
Though Martin had said it indirectly, this meant they had acted that way on purpose.
‘Were they trying to show off their power and break my spirit……?’
Lawrence barely suppressed the anger surging up inside him.
Getting angry like this would be no different from falling for their ploy.
Martin did not miss the subtle change in Lawrence’s expression.
That was why he had no choice but to lower his head even further.
“Martin. You don’t need to bow your head for something that isn’t your fault. Judging from the atmosphere, training will be difficult today, so let’s start again tomorrow. Instead, this training ground is no good. Let’s do it somewhere else.”
“Understood, Young Master. I apologize once again for what happened today.”
“I told you, it’s fine. Then I’ll see you tomorrow.”
Lawrence patted Martin’s shoulder once, then turned and walked away.
As Lawrence walked, his face had already hardened like a stone statue.
Every step he took was heavy, as if heavy stones had been tied to his feet, and deep anger lay in his eyes.
That was only natural, because the knights had not insulted only him.
This was no different from insulting the House of Romanov.
‘This place isn’t that different from my previous world either. It’s full of all kinds of intrigue. Well, anywhere people live must be the same.’
After hearing the knights’ conversation, Lawrence was able to grasp the situation the count’s house was in with greater detail.
‘First, it looks like things are even harder than I thought. If they’re behind on even the knights’ wages, this isn’t just serious.’
After thinking for a moment, Lawrence immediately went to find Helena.
If it was Helena, who had worked in the count’s house for a long time, she would likely know the current state of the count’s house better than anyone.
“Helena, can we talk for a moment?”
Helena, who had been cleaning the corridor, was startled by Lawrence’s urgent voice calling her. She threw aside her broom and hurried over to him with quick steps.
Although she had seen him for quite a long time, Helena was cautious because she did not yet know the personality of Lawrence, who had only recently risen from his sickbed.
And if he was calling her from that far away, she thought it must not be an ordinary matter.
‘Did I perhaps make a big mistake?’
With anxiety in her heart, she quickly approached.
The person before her was someone who could give her a severe punishment with a single word.
Of course, the count and the countess were good people and never treated those beneath them carelessly.
That was why this was a place where she wanted to work for the rest of her life.
It had already been nearly twenty years since she began working as a maid in the count’s house.
It was a place she had grown deeply attached to, but as the count’s house had fallen on hard times over the past few years, many people had left.
She, too, carried the anxiety that she might not know when she would have to leave the count’s house.
In that situation, Lawrence’s urgent voice made her even more uneasy.
“I’m sorry for calling someone busy.”
Seeing Helena approach urgently, panting with a tense face, Lawrence made an apologetic expression.
He had never imagined she would be this nervous.
“Not at all, Young Master. Why did you call for me?”
Judging from Lawrence’s reaction, it did not seem as though she had made some mistake, so Helena felt relieved.
“Well, there’s something I want to know. Would it be all right if I asked you a few things?”
Lawrence asked Helena with a courteous attitude.
“Yes, yes, of course. Anything is fine.”
Startled by Lawrence’s unexpected kindness, Helena answered in a half-dazed state.
All the people of the House of Count Romanov were good people, but they were nobles of a different status from her.
Yet right now, Lawrence was showing sincere respect and consideration, apart from that difference in status.
At the sudden emotion surging through her, Helena felt the tip of her nose sting slightly.
“The weather is nice today, so let’s go outside for a little while.”
“Yes, Young Master.”
Lawrence took Helena and went outside the mansion.
He spread a handkerchief over a flat rock in the garden and offered her a seat.
“This is nice. Sit here.”
“No, Young Master. You should sit.”
Startled by Lawrence’s kindness, Helena quickly picked up the handkerchief placed before her and spread it again where he would sit.
“I’m grateful you’re giving me your time. I can’t do that. Sit here.”
Lawrence spread the handkerchief again and gently pressed down on the shoulder of Helena, who kept refusing, making her sit.
Helena, startled by the fact that she had sat before Lawrence, tried to lift herself back up, but Lawrence sat beside her and spoke with a smile.
“It’s all right. To me, Helena is no different from a nanny. I know very well that when I was sick, the person who cared for me next most after Mother was you, Helena. You washed my body every day, cleaned my room, and even aired it out. I didn’t have a chance to say it until now, but I was truly grateful.”
This was not lip service, but sincerity.
Lawrence knew very well that caring for a patient was not an easy thing.
Especially for such a long time.
They said to carve kindness in stone and grudges in the heart.
Having received such a great kindness, Lawrence had no intention of expressing his gratitude with words alone.
Because of his current situation, he could only use words for now, but someday, he definitely wanted to give her a gift filled with his feelings.
“No, Young Master. I only did what I naturally should have done…….”
Helena said this while placing a hand over her chest, trying to calm her pounding heart.
Because she could not contain the emotion welling up inside her.
Others in the count’s house had occasionally expressed gratitude as well, but this was the first time she had received thanks so overflowing with sincerity.
“Well, Helena. Do you remember that I said earlier I had something to ask you?”
Lawrence carefully broached the subject.
“Yes, I remember. But what are you trying to ask?”
“As you know, because I was sick, I don’t really know the family’s situation. After looking around these past few days, it seems things are worse than I thought. Could you tell me in a bit more detail?”
“W-Well, that is…….”
At Lawrence’s question, Helena avoided his gaze as if troubled.
This was not about anything else, but the count’s house’s circumstances. It was not something a mere maid could speak of carelessly.
If she made a mistake, she could suffer great harm.
“In truth, I know most of it already. I know the situation is bad enough that the knight order isn’t even being paid. I am the heir of the count’s house in name, after all. Shouldn’t I know a bit more in detail?”
“Um, even so, for me to speak of it…….”
Perhaps burdened by Lawrence’s gaze as he looked at her, Helena lowered her head and fixed her eyes on the ground.
“I will never say that I heard it from you, Helena. I promise this on my honor as a noble. So I would be grateful if you didn’t worry at all and told me. It’s something I will learn anyway. I just want to know a little sooner.”
When Lawrence went this far, Helena felt somewhat relieved.
The fact that Lawrence had even brought up a noble’s honor meant that he acknowledged and trusted her that much.
“Then I will trust only you, Young Master, and tell you.”
“Thank you, Helena.”
What she told him was roughly as follows.
The reason the count’s house had grown this difficult was, as he had expected, money.
Because the Monster Forest bordered the territory, monster attacks occurred frequently.
And as long as battles took place, large sums of money were always bound to be spent.
They needed manpower and many supplies, and on top of that, the barrier wall that blocked monster invasions also had to be continuously repaired.